Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901267#Comment_117901267

Not really tbh, I’m in a very proud tillage and malting barley area and not much land comes up so it’s all out cut throat if land comes up, majority of grassland farms are extensively farmed by guys working full time and part time farming

that’s what has me favouring trying to stay in the middle bracket, less land required and probably an animal that’s more robust

av lactation forget our herd this year is 3.1 so quite young meaning milk yield will only go one way

go hard at targeting 9% solids from 6200l ?

is it possible? Nice to have a new challenge maybe, we’ve near enough got to where we want to with cow numbers etc etc

will help with peak processing capacity too!

Mooooo

50% 1st and 2nd calvers here, another 25% 3rd so a young herd here as well, will prob finish up around the 6400kg mark in dec. Weighing up options at the moment but staying in the middle band will be hassle. Trying to increase solids all the time, making progress with p but bf is slow going and with the the current climate is I would be slow to go the jex route. If I can I'll drive on. Don't have a choice really, have a lump of debt already, yard has to be invested in regardless of what happens if there are cows being milked here

degetme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901342#Comment_117901342

What do they mean by exceeded the aggregate guaranteed volume?? Got the same bull here.

kevthegaff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901370#Comment_117901370

I'd say climate over there hasn't helped with droughts, although I hope your right about processors

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901494#Comment_117901494

I only have a contracted volume of 200k litres so I guess I exceeded that. I don't know. Might ring them and ask them should I look for a different processor.

nht5105

Hello all, I've had 20 percent empty rate in my cows this year which is much higher than normal. I've noticed my milk urea was very low during breeding season and this may be the cause. Has this happened to anyone before? What do people do to increase urea levels? Don't want to make the same mistake next year

Mooooo

I wouldn't think urea levels being low would be the cause. They have been low for most this year. The weather has been the main issue, May being wet and cold, the hot week late in the season also may not have helped. Had 12% empty here, but below 50% held to first service. Are vaccinated for lepto?

whelan2

We had a lot of repeats here to ai and bull was in longer than last year. Didn't scan yet but he seems to have gotten the repeats in calf.

nht5105

Yea vaccinate for lepto, they didn't hold as well to ai either and maybe the bull was a bit young for the extra cows. Anyway next might be a better year. Thanks lads

Gman1987

Attached is I'd say the full letter referenced in that Agriland article.

Devenish Letter MSheehy1 NAP F 090921.pdf

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902552#Comment_117902552

Its a well put together piece, that Jack and Joe and all the boys will use as toilet paper reading this week's journal teagasc have gone all in on their mantra and no other system of dairying is going to be allowed here if they get their way, their going after feed imports now as basically contributing to rainforest destruction, they seem to of forgotten 2018 pretty quickly

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902552#Comment_117902552

Some senior hurling stuff in that letter …would of been great if the powers that be in Tegasc would of listened to guys like this and took there very well qualified views on board ….the n banding issue just seems to be sidelined by a lot of so called lobby bodies despite the very real affects it’s going to have on a lot of typical fragmented family farms

trixi2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902552#Comment_117902552

Its a very well put together letter alright but he is using pretty much the same fats and proteins for a 7000l cow and a 4500 litre cow.

Saying band 3 are the most environmently is a bit off the wall to be fair .

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902985#Comment_117902985

For arguments sake in your eyes so a 100 cow herd doing 600kgs of milk solids, isnt going to have a smaller environmental impact then a 150 cow herd averaging 400kgs of milk solids on a similar land base , taking the caveat, that the higher yielding herds imported feed is from a foreign country the nitrates/p/k emitted from the growing process and emissions getting it to Ireland stay with the Brazilian/American farmers and the pollution along with it

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902985#Comment_117902985

We’ll av 4.63 BF 3.88 PR this year on 6500l I reckon, could quite easily be at 7000l av soon enough with out breeding any more milk into them

your cows will have a fair yield too this year if I’m not mistaken Trix?

lot of time and effort gone into breeding solids and litres to create an effiecent grass based cow to now be told they’re not and a lower yielding cow is more environmentally friendly

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902985#Comment_117902985

If u read the full submission ….lots of facts well backed up it’s not that far fetched …..the question needs to be asked of Tegasc …..why weren’t guys like this consulted ….why wasn’t info like this taken into account ……we’re they afraid of the info ?????

Mooooo

Tbh lads we have to pick our battles and the bands is one that is more or less lost imo. All that maybe yielded against it, excuse the pun, would be flexibility if an exceptional weather year causes an occasional jump in yield.

Its the other proposals where we may have a better chance of fighting or getting support at least in implementing.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117903620#Comment_117903620

I think the banding is going to have a massive knock on effect. It’s directly hitting guys income

I can live with building a soiled water tank tbh and no slurry spreading past 15th September

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117903626#Comment_117903626

Agreed ….I’ve no fear of any of the other proposals in general ….the banding I’ve a big issue with and it’s the one tbat will have biggest affect on our incomes

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117903660#Comment_117903660

A bit like that after an initial negative reaction I'm starting to say how can we work with them.in relation to the banding isuppose they don't want fellas going down the High input route if numbers have to drop.it s makes no sense to import feed into the country to feed cows to export food back out.

Mooooo

2.35 is going to be the max whole farm, so case of reducing replacements to a minimum level or contract rearing if going to be in the top band

Mooooo

Possibly using liveweight instead of output, but I'd imagine factory weights is what they may use unless the dep come and do the weighing and even then they'd prob put it in a way that most would be caught out

mahoney_j

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117904110#Comment_117904110

Tegasc and dept seem to have forgot we have to make a living from farming too though …you can farm with a high output herd in an environment friendly way utilising as much grass as possible with a reasonable level of input …we need to import proteins and fibres ….we can grow lots of wheat barley and oats but the drive for dairy by Tegasc etc at expense of tillage ground has cut that area

atlantic mist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3o0EyzEeu4&t=3820s

so its official....our largest trader of dairy products in ireland says factually consumers wouldnt pay more for enviromental issues domestically or internationally, our high price on our premium products is due to the quality of the product

farmer bashing by goverment departments and think tanks and the media is the biggest treat to irish dairy, mr jordan raises a good point

it seem science is one sided in the climate debate, so much funding gone to third levels to show the negitive impacts on the enviroment but no such funding to show the benifit from farming

trees can sequence carbon but a hedge doesnt.......im lost whats the difference??

enviromental objectives of being carbon nutural cannot be meet without the adequate resource, the consumer simply is not interested to pay more....back to the goverment and eu to get creative if the ambitions targets are to be met, head of teagasc thinks a 10% reduction from industry is a more realistic target than 50%

if banding takes place like they propose ill move from 7500 litre to 10000 litre cow as band is the same

straight

I guess they know we can afford to take the hit as it's been printed every week that we're "highly profitable". I have the slurry storage here and am comfortable with less fertilizer, etc. It's the banding is hitting hard and it just makes no sense. The main reason my cows are on the wrong side of 6500 is because of compact calving so I'll be penalised while others with the same cows won't. It's going to do sweet fcuk all for the environment. In fact it will encourage me to push on for 9000 litre yields. The man with the same cows as me milking once a day then can stock higher. It's the most stupid thing I've ever come across.

mahoney_j

👌👌and I’ll say it again ….we can thank Tegasc for this the n bands are there doing and they need be be hauled over the fires for this ….pure stubbornness etc that they didn’t think of all farmers here …there’s excellent submissions floating around now re the bands from various organisations who’s views weren’t looked for …..all the noise was on slurry storage /soiled water storage …don’t have many issues with that ….the bands are going to affect many farmers incomes ….throw in Glanbia peak management on top

straight

IHFA Nitrates Submission

https://ihfa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IHFA-Submission.pdf

Email your own

submission by Mon 20th Sep to wau@housing.gov.ie

to have an impact.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117904476#Comment_117904476

I think that old Trope about consumers not caring suits the likes of the NDA and Teagasc to just stick their heads in the sand. Sure there is a group of people who are happy to eat any old muck but the people who actually appreciate good,sustaineably produced food(and all the benefits that come with it in terms of flavour etc.) and will pay some more for it are out there as evidenced on the ground with the ongoing expansion of organic demand across the EU, the growing success of farm shops that sell direct to consumers etc. The reality is that farm policies here continue to be pushed by the race to the bottom brigade led by vested interests like monopoly proccessors, chemical fert merchants etc. It just suprises me that there is still a signficant group of farmers willing to go along with that broken model that will see ever shrinking margins and ever larger industrial units which will increasingly be run by corporate entities as per the situation in the likes of the US and OZ

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117904773#Comment_117904773

Don't recall seeing any updates online by teagasc at their pat on the back open days re the glanbia peak management issues coming up for a good chunk of their clients next year, it tells you all you need to know about the organisation that they don't seem to want to tackle this issue and come up with some blue print that might help lads out, for the simple reason the solutions fly in the face of their mantra and their clients may just figure it out for themselves and maybe they'll get a bollocking of their own teagasc advisor when they might start system drifting as they say themselves rather then end up paying huge fines for milk produced that they haven't the quota for

Lios67

Has anyone covered an overground slurry store and any advice, thanks